Posts from — July 2017

John Podesta responds to a Trump tweet with ‘Get A Grip’:

President Trump tweeted some unexpected news Friday morning from the Group of 20 summit underway in Hamburg, Germany: “Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and CIA. Disgraceful!” Trump wrote.

Mr. Podesta points out that he was the Clinton campaign chairman and had no control over any DNC server. He was a victim in the incident. In addition Trump isn’t aware that the CIA doesn’t have authority in internal US investigations.

Putin is the only one at the meeting that might even care.

Troyes – Nuits-Saint-Georges

Distance: 213.5 kilometers.

With a single Category 4 climb, Côte d’Urcy, this stage is another one for the sprinters who may be looking for a break after the fourth 200+ kilometer stage.

Marcel Kittel took his third stage in a photo finish with Edvald Boasson Hagen. I accept the decision of the judges of a 6 mm win, but it looked like a tie to me. In addition to the stage win, Kittel took the Green Jersey from Arnaud Demare. The general classificatio remained static, but the mountains beckon and change is on the way.

Christopher Froome ( GBr – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 28h 47′ 51″
Marcel Kittel ( Ger – QST – 101 ) [Green] 197 points
Fabio Aru ( Ita – AST – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 10 points
Simon Yates ( GBr – ORS – 089 ) 6 [White]

Team: Team Sky ( SKY – 001-009 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Marcel Kittel ( Ger – QST – 101 )
Combative: Dylan Van Baarle ( Ned – CDT – 189 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GBr – SKY – 001 )
2 Geraint Thomas ( GBr – SKY – 009 ) + 00′ 12″
3 Fabio Aru ( Ita – AST – 051 ) + 00′ 14″
4 Daniel Martin ( Irl – QST – 105 ) + 00′ 25″
5 Richie Porte ( Aus – BMC – 041 ) + 00′ 39″
6 Simon Yates ( GBr – ORS – 089 ) + 00′ 43″
7 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 011 ) + 00′ 47″
8 Alberto Contador ( Spa – TFS – 031 ) + 00′ 52″
9 Nairo Quintana ( Col – MOV – 021 ) + 00′ 54″
10 Rafal Majka ( Pol – BOH – 115 ) + 01′ 01″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

Position: 16.5N 52.5W [ 4PM CDT 2100 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [290°] near 21 mph [33 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 25 mph [ 35 kph].
Wind Gusts: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1012 mb ↑.

Currently about 590 miles [ 950 km] East of the Lesser Antilles.

At 4PM CDT the NHC reports that the system has degenerated into a tropical wave. This is the final advisory.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Vesoul – Troyes

Distance: 216 kilometers.

With two Category 4 climbs, Côte de Langres amd Côte de la colline Sainte-Germaine, this stage falls under the ‘hilly’ column. A sprint finish in Troyes is expected.

Marcel Kittel took his second stage win of this Tour after a superb set up by his team at 150 meters. Arnaud Demare and André Greipel lost momentum contesting with each other and Kittel zipped by to take the stage.

The Jerseys and General classification are relatively unchanged.

Christopher Froome ( GBr – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 23h 44′ 33″
Arnaud Demare ( Fra – FDJ – 071 ) [Green] 170 points
Fabio Aru ( Ita – AST – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 10 points
Simon Yates ( GBr – ORS – 089 ) 6 [White]

Team: Team Sky ( SKY – 001-009 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Marcel Kittel ( Ger – QST – 101 )
Combative: Vegard Stake Laengen ( Nor – UAD – 065 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GBr – SKY – 001 )
2 Geraint Thomas ( GBr – SKY – 009 ) + 00′ 12″
3 Fabio Aru ( Ita – AST – 051 ) + 00′ 14″
4 Daniel Martin ( Irl – QST – 105 ) + 00′ 25″
5 Richie Porte ( Aus – BMC – 041 ) + 00′ 39″
6 Simon Yates ( GBr – ORS – 089 ) + 00′ 43″
7 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 011 ) + 00′ 47″
8 Alberto Contador ( Spa – TFS – 031 ) + 00′ 52″
9 Nairo Quintana ( Col – MOV – 021 ) + 00′ 54″
10 Rafal Majka ( Pol – BOH – 115 ) + 01′ 01″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

Position: 13.4N 46.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 30 mph [ 45 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1012 mb ↑.

Currently about 985 miles [1585 km] East of the Lesser Antilles.

This system is not currently expected to become a tropical storm, and may be a remnant low tomorrow.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Vittel – La Planche des Belles Filles

Distance: 160.5 kilometers.

It is Polka Dot time on the first test for the climbers. There is a warm-up Category 3 climb up the Côte d’Esmoulières at just over 107 kilometers. and then the final climb, Category 1, to the finish at La Planche des Belles Filles.

Super Manx, Mark Cavendish, didn’t start as he suffered a fractured shoulder blade in yesterday’s crash. His pursuit of overtaking Eddy Merckx’s 34 stage wins will have to wait a year.

Fabio Aru won the stage and the Polka Dots while Chris Froome took the Yellow from team mate Geraint Thomas.

Christopher Froome ( GBr – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 18h 38′ 59″
Arnaud Demare ( Fra – FDJ – 071 ) [Green] 127 points
Fabio Aru ( Ita – AST – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 10 points
Simon Yates ( GBr – ORS – 089 ) 6 [White]

Team: Team Sky ( SKY – 001-009 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Fabio Aru ( Ita – AST – 051 )
Combative: Philippe Gilbert ( Bel – QST – 104 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GBr – SKY – 001 )
2 Geraint Thomas ( GBr – SKY – 009 ) + 00′ 12″
3 Fabio Aru ( Ita – AST – 051 ) + 00′ 14″
4 Daniel Martin ( Irl – QST – 105 ) + 00′ 25″
5 Richie Porte ( Aus – BMC – 041 ) + 00′ 39″
6 Simon Yates ( GBr – ORS – 089 ) + 00′ 43″
7 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 011 ) + 00′ 47″
8 Alberto Contador ( Spa – TFS – 031 ) + 00′ 52″
9 Nairo Quintana ( Col – MOV – 021 ) + 00′ 54″
10 Rafal Majka ( Pol – BOH – 115 ) + 01′ 01″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

I am building the spreadsheets need to provide coverage in a reasonable manner, but this is already a ‘very interesting’ race that started in Düsseldorf, Germany, passed through Belgium to France.

Tour de France: Drama on stage four as Peter Sagan disqualified for Mark Cavendish crash

World champion Peter Sagan was kicked out of the Tour de France on Tuesday after sending Mark Cavendish crashing in a hectic finale to the fourth stage.

Sagan is the current World Champion and was going after his sixth Green Jersey when he was caught elbowing Mark Cavendish and causing a serious crash. You can’t get away with this stuff at the finish where dozens of press cameras and spectators’ cellphones are recording everything.

As always, here are the Tour basics if you want to follow along. The Tour started on July 1st, but I’ve been tied up with other things and couldn’t handle the daily updates.

The cartoon characters from my header are wearing the various colored jerseys that indicate the leader in the different classifications in the race.

The Maillot Jaune, Yellow Jersey is worn by the rider with the lowest time overall in the race. The eventual winner of the race may never have come in first in any stage, but was near the lead throughout the race and achieved the lowest time over the entire course of the event. The winner is normally an “all-arounder”, someone who is very good at the sprints and the hill climbing, even if they aren’t the best. Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, and Fabian Cancellara are “all-arounders”, showing up on the lists of the sprinters and the climbers, while staying in the top ten for overall time.

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The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…

[Read more →]

Just a couple of lights to install and a slow drain but the tenant is in and I want to give him some breathing space before I finish and get over a cold.

A few things struck my fancy in the limited time I had to scan the ‘Net:

How about Mail Me to the GOP, a service that will send your ashes to the Republican official of your choice if you die as a result of their screwing around with health care.

From Australia – Opal card implanted into Sydney man Meow-Meow could be deactivated by NSW authorities:

Transport authorities in New South Wales have threatened to deactivate an Opal card that has been implanted in a Sydney man’s hand.

Sydney bio-hacker Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow — his actual name — had the near-field communication (NFC) chip from an Opal card cut out and encased in a bio-compatible plastic.

An Opal card is a public transport pass.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth is Britain’s newest aircraft carrier now under going sea trials. During a media tour it was noticed that the ship apparently uses Windows XP. Well, it is better than Windows 10, I suppose.

Earth-Bound Misfit scores big with Trumple Thinskin.

La fête du
Canada
Day

Thank you for not yet building a fence along your southern or western border, and for brewing great beer.

This is the Canadian Sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution Act of 1867.

Schedule of Ottawa events and some background.